Daydream Games — Local services in Princeton

As someone who has been going to this shop since before it even officially opened, I can’t recommend this store.

The prices are exorbitant, and early on, I could state that was an issue of not having a supplier.

Now that the store has a supplier, the owner has decided to increase the price of items and instead institute a “League fee”, where you spend $5 to have decent pricing for a month. $2 sodas become $1, Starter Decks for Yugioh go from $16 to $12, etc.

The owner has no interest in the games he runs tournaments for, instead solely focusing on the profits the games bring in.

The owner also has to constantly run damage control with the playgroups, constantly trying to twist words he has said to players around to make the players seem like liars instead of owning up to what he has said.

If this store were the only option, I would hesitantly say to go here. Since there are other options in Princeton, I wouldn’t bother.

The only thing this store still has going for it is Magic and Pokemon, and with how poorly the owner has handled Yu-Gi-Oh, Digimon, and a large group of Commander players, I suspect that this won’t last too long either.

Update 10/13/22: There are now reports of fake cards being sold from this store. DO NOT TRUST for singles!

Update 07/10/23: Happy belated 1 year anniversary to all of us who are banned from entering this store after we gave 1* reviews. I would like just let everyone know what the owner has done since banning us, as well as some happenings slightly before the bannings.

Attempted to illegally institute a swear jar for patrons, demanding money be put in if any swears were uttered, has since changed this to a full on ban of swears instead.

Threatened a few people with a lawsuit for libel for opinions about how he runs his business.

Verbally threatened another customer, claiming that they were working for a competitor and that their actions have consequences. (Said customer helped bring some furniture in to another local card store that has sadly closed.)

Heavily implied that a customer was too poor to purchase some of his products. (Customer asked for a box of Magic cards, owner responded “Are you sure? I know how tight money can be.”)

Added Dippin Dots for $5, when you can buy self serve bags from Amazon for that amount and get more Dippin Dots.

Given out free Pokemon cards to kids for good grades (I can’t even be mad at that one, that’s so far the one redeeming thing I have seen come out of this store.)

To those of you who are enjoying the store, that’s wonderful, and I wish you nothing but happiness in the future.

I just want to bring attention since it’s past a year now since a majority of the Digimon players and Magic players have been allowed to set foot in this establishment, and I think it speaks volumes that a lot of us have held our ground for this long. This store, despite some of the good that comes out it, is still overpriced, ran by a man who thought running for City Council was a good idea when he cannot handle an ounce of criticism online. Dan, we’re not deleting our reviews without you listening to our problems first, and addressing them. Lower your prices, stop hoarding promos, and stop trying to force formats we have no interest in playing.

EDIT: 11/2/2024 Well, I didn't think I'd be back here, but got some more stories pouring in from this store.

First is once again about the owner attempting to scam a child out of some expensive Pokemon cards. Luckily the kid knew the value of what they had, and walked out on the deal.

Second has to do with one of the more recent reviews here. The wording of the remarks made by the owner as I have heard them were "Natives are all drunks who don't have to honor contracts." The owner said this directly to one of the patrons, who is Native American. Owner then replied by saying that he's sorry that the person got offended. What a stand up citizen, who I will remind you, attempted to run for city council. This store is basically finished at this point. No amount of damage control...

I report several personal experiences as well as those of other players I know personally. The owner's business behaviors are inclined to exploit rather than support the gaming communities. He compels players to enter tournament formatted games when they request non-competitive formats to games. He tries to convince people to play games they don't want to play, or in formats they don't want to play, or to avoid pestering players playing games/tournaments that are more financially advantageous to him. He advocates for monthly memberships and game fee structures that do not yield apparent equivalent value to players. People request to play games and formats of games that are ignored or dismissed. The prices for CCG singles or sealed products can frequently be up to 10-20% higher than TCGPlayer mid/average prices. There multiple customers--including me--reporting sneaky or avaricious behaviors on trades or sales or markups or sudden gaming fees that are either suspicious or exploitive. There are no customer loyalty benefits or discounts. In short, the store has a major public-relations problem that will likely not be healed due to the frequency and prevalence of poor customer experiences concerning the owner's extortionate and aggressive...

I wish I could say that this place has gone downhill, or that the better days were behind them. But honestly this store has been a train wreck from the very beginning. DDG does not seem to care about the communities that play here. The prices are terrible (2$ for a can of soda, much higher markup on inventory, poor prize support, etc). DDG not only rejects constructive criticism, but actively bans(or threatens legal action against) those who would say anything that they perceive as bad about the store. DDG constantly tries to push more product on you if you purchase or even look at anything. It feels like you are being milked for money everytime you step into the store, and if you don't buy anything everytime you come in, your opinions don't matter. DDG removes negative reviews and comments from its Facebook page, misleading even would be customers. Every event they have had has a ton drama attached to it. If you visit this shop once or twice it may seem all is well, but go here for an extended amount of time and you'll see how really DDG is. There are much better places in princeton to spend your money on hobbies, but the bar isn't very high. I would not recommend this store...